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CSO figures released today show a rise in employment in Ireland. There was an annual rise of 3.2% in the year until the third quarter of 2013, bringing total employment to 1,899,300.

On a quarterly adjusted basis, numbers in employment rose by 22,500 in this quarter. This also follows on from a seasonally adjusted increase in employment of 13,500 in the second quarter of 2013.

The unemployment rate over the quarter decreased from 13.6% to 12.8%. An unemployment decrease of 41,700 in the year brings the total number of people out of work down to 282,900.

The total number of persons in the labour force in the third quarter of 2013 was 2,182,100. This showed an increase of 16,300 over the year. The number of people not in the labour force in the third quarter of 2013 was 1,410,700, a decrease of 19,000 over the year.

Stephen Kinsella, Lecturer of Economics in the University of Limerick, tweeted the following: “Unambiguously good news for Irish labour market: emp. up 58k in year to 2013:Q3, unemployment down 41.7k”.

According to the Irish Times, Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton said: “There are still far too many people out of work, and tackling unemployment will remain the Government’s number one priority, but these figures demonstrate that we are making steady progress”.

A UK registered fishing vessel was detained by the Irish Naval Service today after it was found to be in breach of fishing regulations.

The vessel is being handed over to the UK Maritime Management Office and will return to the UK this evening.

Speaking to News Anois, the Naval Service revealed that the reason for returning the vessel to the UK rather than seeking prosecution in Ireland is because the breach is of “EU fishing regulations”, not just those of Ireland.

Regardless of the EU country that the law is broken in, anyone in breach of these fishing regulations is guilty of “the same breach” and prosecution can be carried out in any EU country.

The vessel will be turned over to the appropriate authorities in the UK where the breach will be investigated further.

The Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has condemned hate mail that has been sent to members of the Muslim community in Ireland.

An unsigned letter containing a photo of Micheal Collins was sent to a number of schools and mosques, threatening violent action if the proposed plan for a new Mosque in Dublin goes ahead. The letter contained threats such as ‘We will defend the faith by any means against the expansion of the Muslim faith’ and continued to threaten that they “will attack any Muslim man, women and child that enter any Mosque in Ireland”.

Mr. Shatter said in a statement that he condemns any “racism and religious bigotry in all their forms” and said he is “appalled by the nature of the communications”.

The letter and its violent intent have been condemned by the Irish Immigrant Council with a statement saying “A hate campaign against the Muslim community in Dublin must be fully investigated and those responsible prosecuted”.

Ahmed, who works at the Clonskeagh Mosque in Dublin, insisted that there is a good attitude towards Muslim people in Ireland saying that it is “generally peaceful”. He claimed that the violent letter instils “no fear at all” in Muslims in Ireland and that the act is an isolated incident that is not acceptable in a multicultural society. He said: “We don’t care about the letter; the act is not acceptable but it will not shake our belief in God”.

There are currently over 65,000 Muslims living in Ireland, with over a third of those being born in the country.

Notorious weather forecaster Ken Ring, who successfully predicted the July heat wave back in January and our extreme winter of 2010, expects snow in December but Ireland will miss out on a white Christmas. The New Zealander uses the moon, sun and tidal activity to make his forecasts.

Talking to the Irish Examiner, Ring says “Some southern areas may get isolated heavier falls but these are not expected to be widespread. There will be a sudden downward plunge into sub-zeros in the last few days of November. The first serious cold spell is in the last few days of November with the possibility of widespread snow on or near the last day”.

“There may be chances of snow in the last days of the year and the first few days of January, in the third week of February and in the first week of March” he said.

The weather expert is not expecting the arctic conditions of 2010 to return.

A Dublin City Council spokesperson, along with the Stephen Smith from NRA (National Road Authority), confirmed that they have increased their stock pile of salt since the severe winter of 2010. Their current stock pile is 2200 tonnes, with a reserve of 2000 tonnes. From October until March the Dublin City Council monitors road conditions and responds once temperatures reach below 1 degree Celsius. They cover approx. 300 km of Dublin city roads concentrating predominantly on key roads, bus routes and emergency routes, but housing estates are not included. Once in operation, 80-100 tonnes of salt could be used on a severe night.

Last week, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, Mr. Alan Shatter, T.D., and Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Mr. Phil Hogan, T.D. launched the Government’s ‘Be Winter Ready’ 2013-2014 Information Campaign at the National Emergency Coordination Centre in Dublin. Advice from Government departments, the Gardaí, the HSE, local authorities and transport providers will now be available on the website www.winterready.ie.

The campaign intends to provide practical advice on how best to prepare for the coming winter. It aims to ensure the public are aware of where advice and help can be found if needed and to reassure the public that arrangements have been put in place to ensure that there will be a coordinated response to severe weather events.

The weather, as un-predictable as it is to most of us, remains unthreatening. Most of us can rest assured if Ring’s predictions are true, along with the comprehensive preparations in place at the NRA and Dublin City Council, a severe winter doesn’t pose a threat.

Government experts will travel to the Philippines tomorrow to assess how Ireland can further assist the country as it recovers from the effects of Typhoon Haiyan.

The team will comprise of representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Irish Defence Forces. They will travel to the Philippines on Wednesday where they will meet the Filipino Government, U.N agencies and NGO’s in Manila.

Eamon Gilmore said “Although the world’s cameras are moving on, millions of Filipino citizens remain homeless, their livelihoods destroyed and their families at risk. Ireland is committed to helping them rebuild their lives over the coming months… We have charged the team with assessing how Ireland can be most effective in responding to the longer-term needs of communities in the Philippines”.

On completion of the mission, the team will outline their recommendations of how Ireland can continue to support the Filipino people.

Ireland has already donated €2.6 million in funding to the relief effort with three airlifts of shelter, water, sanitation and other emergency services to the worth of €845,000 have also been offered.

Aer Lingus provided a flight that departed Dublin airport yesterday morning with over 40 tonnes of aid with help from the Irish agency GOAL.

Goal Irish chief executive Barry Andrews said “Once again, the people of Ireland have been extremely generous… I would like to sincerely thank everyone at Aer Lingus for arranging and putting on this flight, and for the cockpit, cabin crew and operations staff employees, who volunteered their free time”.

Typhoon Haiyan left almost 7000 people dead or missing when it ravaged through the Philippines in early November.

Today is International Men’s Day, a day designed to promote ‘a focus on men’s and boy’s health, improving gender relations, promoting gender equality, and highlighting positive male role models.’ In Ireland, it would seem that the former concern about men’s health is a significant one. The average life expectancy of Irish men is five years less than that of Irish women, and Ireland has the highest rate of prostate cancer in Europe. The National Men’s Health Policy report for 2008-2013 makes for uneasy reading. Apparently ‘men have tended to be more reticent in terms of advocating or speaking out about their own health.’ Not only are men apparently less willing to face their own mortality, but ‘the burden of ill health and mortality is borne, in particular, by men from the lower socio-economic groups’.

Some progressive measures have been introduced to try and combat male apathy towards their own health. One exceptionally successful initiative has been ‘Movember’. This organisation, independent from International Men’s Day, encourages people to raise money for charity by getting sponsored for their moustache growth. A cursory glance at your Facebook feed will likely bring the shocking sight of many of your male friends sporting dashing ‘stashes, and indeed women doing their part with assorted brushes/combs. The novel manner with which the organisation has tackled men’s reticence to address their own health seems to have found an inroad to apparent male squeamishness. The sacrifice of one month’s appearance (depending on growth ability) is apparently a price many are willing to pay to support those who suffer from many of the debilitating cancers in Ireland.

MANDATE, the union representing staff of both department stores are expressing fears over the future of their members’ jobs.

Both stores have been held by IBRC and the Ulster Bank since 2010. Causing concerns, the Ulster Bank are currently considering selling their share of the debt after a number of restructuring firms have expressed interests.

John Douglas, Mandate General Secretary said:
‘Arnotts and Boyers workers have gone through a very painful and difficult five years. Nonetheless, they have worked with the current management to turn Arnotts and Boyers around in a very difficult retail environment, once again making Arnotts a unique and successful Irish retail brand.’

He added, ‘It would be a slap in the face to all Arnotts and Boyers workers if either IBRC or Ulster Bank were to merely try to maximise their return on their debt without any consideration of what is best for the workers now and into the future.’

It has been rumoured that Ulster Bank will make a decision on the sale this week.